Male circumcision is one of the most common surgical procedures in the world and is performed for ritualistic as well as hygienic and disease prevention reasons. Approximately a third of human males worldwide receive a circumcision at some point in their lives. Circumcision has traditionally been performed either immediately after birth, during childhood, during adolescence or occasionally on young adults (i.e., after the teenage years).
One conventional method for performing circumcision is by surgically removing the foreskin after physically pulling the foreskin over the glans. In such methods, the foreskin is removed while it is still a live tissue, usually causing bleeding. Such methods may involve hemorrhaging and a relatively long period of healing of the incision (e.g., up to a few weeks), while inducing pain in an individual. When such a procedure is performed on adult males, suturing is required. In general, such methods are recognized as not being scalable for mass circumcision campaigns, in particular in areas where medical facilities may be sparse or not available and where skilled personnel is scarce. It is therefore desirable to have a circumcision device that is scalable for mass circumcision in that it is a fast procedure, requires no sterile settings, and can easily be administered by low cadre professionals such as nurses, and is also associated with as little pain as possible to increase acceptability and satisfaction of the procedure, leading to more men agreeing to undergo the procedure.
Other methods and devices for performing circumcision are known in the art, some use a device in the form of a ring enclosing onto the foreskin. One such device is shown on the website http://www.circ-ring.de/us/circ ring english.html (owned by the company Circ-Ring International and known commercially as the Zhenxi Ring). The use of this device requires anesthesia.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,788 issued to Nelson, III, and entitled “Adjustable Hemostatic Circumcision Dressing and Method of its Use,” is directed to a device for performing circumcision and describes a circumcision dressing, which comprises an inner ring that is discontinuous and is positioned between the prepuce and shaft of the penis and an outer ring.
US patent publication No. 2,561,176 issued to Buckingham Charles T describes a one piece compression clamp that is left on the prepuce for a few days after the circumcision.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,544,037 issued To Moseley Mortimer H describes a surgical instrument comprising a guard positioned between the prepuce and the shaft and a clamp positioned in encompassing position about the prepuce crushing the prepuce against the guard to cause hemostasis.
International patent application publication No. WO2005/039424 describes a circumcision apparatus composed of three components, glans loop, a rubber ring and a clamping mechanism, the rubber ring being placed between the glans loop and the clamping mechanism.
Chinese publication CN2256299 describes it its abstract a ring cutter comprising a ring loop, having a ring groove present on the outer circle of this ring loop, and a flexible loop which is stretched onto the ring groove of the ring loop. The ring loop and the flexible rubber loop form a ring bracket, which is inserted and supported in the prepuce, thereby blocking the blood circulation of the front part of the prepuce so that the prepuce falls off.
Chinese publication CN2403373 describes in its abstract a circumcision apparatus used for prepuce excision comprises a ring support arranged on the inner side of prepuce and an elastic excision ring arranged on the outside of the prepuce, with both being mutually acted, allowing the blood transmission of the prepuce to be cut off, and prepuce tissues are necrotized to fall off.
Chinese publication CN2031271 describes a circumcision apparatus composed of an inner ring and an outer elastic ring.